Saturday, April 28, 2012

The bracelet I am showing today is also from Teri Kline on demo & do day. I tore apart the one I started in class ( It was purple & tan)& started over with new colors. I love aqua so here's what I did yesterday. It is made of 4mm fire polished beads, size 11 seeds, delicas & size 15 seeds. It is made with herringbone stitch. I think it looks feminine. Hope you like it. I spent most of the day today looking at a blog hop of messy work spaces. It was sponsored by B'Sue Boutiques. I have a desk that I used to use when my husband sat at the computed. Nowdays I mostly use a fabric covered board that sits across the arms of my lazy boy chair. I have my beads stored in shoebox size plastic containers. I pull the color I want to use out from under my bead & take it to the livingroom. Sometimes I end up with 3 or 4 piles of containers before I put it all away. As with most beaders My beads do tend to overflow all over the house. LOL!! I got a set of shelves from Mom & I plan on putting them up in my bedroom for bead storage, so that I can find my shoes under the bed.

Friday, April 27, 2012

My bracelet today is called Katie's Lace. The pattern came from Teri Kline of Designs by Kline on demo & do day. I am working on the second bracelet from demo & do day now. This bracelet is made with blue 4mm fire polished beads & light blue pearl seed beads. It was fun to make. I am glad to be back to stitching.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Here's the necklace redo that I promised. Isn't the polymer clay flower great. It's by Mary Ellen of Beetreebyme on etsy. I used tigerskin jasper & butterscotch glass with bronze metallic seed beads between on the main strand. I made wire links with wood saucers & a burl wood bead by Mo'R Designs. I got the vintage urchin beads from Jules on etsy. Brass chain & lobster clasp finish the strand. The inner strand is also brass chain. I got a pair of brass earrings with peeling pearls in them at the second hand store. I removed the pearls & glued in adventurine rounds & attached them to the chain. I also used adventurine rounds in the copper colored cornucopia beads. I dangled a brass flower & a wood bead from the chain also.

No jewelry this morning. I am showing my violets. My Aunt lived at her farm for more than 50 years. When she moved to town she gave Mom a slip from her violets. Mom gave one to me. Whenever I see the violets I think of my Aunt who has passed away. I am working on a redo of my first asymmetrical necklace. It looked great but it didn't hang well, so I am rearranging the parts to hang better. I'll show it later, after I get home from the dentist. My sister fell in love with it so she is buying it next month when she will be here. Have a good day.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The jewelry I am showing today is a necklace. I took a class about a month ago with Diane Fitzgerald & this necklace is from that class. I didn't finish in class & I put it aside until my first show was over. Now I finished it . The necklace is called Stairway To Heaven. It's made of Swarovski crystals, tila beads & metallic seed beads. It's the most sparkley thing I have ever made. The pic really doesn't do it justice. I hope the rest of your day is as fun as mine. I'm headed back to make earrings.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Good morning, no jewelry today. I am showing my display from my show. I can't believe it's been a whole week since I blogged. It took the whole week to get ready for the show. The night before my friend Donna & my son were helping & we didn't get done until almost midnight. Yesterday I was pouting cause the show was a bust . I barely made entry fee & most of it was from friends. Oh well the next one will be better. I am open to comments on improving my display. I used a picture frame that was from my husbands family estate. Judging from the pic in it & where it came from I believe it is early 1900's. I thought about painting it but decided to leave it natural. I put fabric coverd foam on it & hung necklaces & earrings on pins. The other end of the table had a lampshade turned into a stand. I didn't have much money to work with for my display & I'm pretty creative, so that's what I came up with. The earrings hung on a raffia strand below the necklaces. Several people commented on it. I had earrings on pink doilies my my collection. I also had a pair of vintage brown leathe gloves & a early 1900's pair of lace cuffs. I covered 2 boxes with fabric & had my velvet stand on top. It held my most expensive piece. A fossilized coral cab that I bead embroidered. I planned on buying 4 display stands but Michaels & 3 walmarts on my way home didn't have any when I was there so I made my own. I used flesh colored fabric & padded the shoulders. Now I'm going to finish a necklace for me. Enjoy your day.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Greetings, My jewelry pic today is the green ceramic necklace update. I added the third strand which is a green silk wrapped around a brass chain. It make the whole thing look fuller and more finished. It came out just like I pictured it. I just had to wait until I got the green silk. I also made earrings with dark green pearl drops, seeds, and brass chain. The ring in the pic is my first ring. I made it Saaturday at demo & do day. Enjoy your day. I'm off to work on my display.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Hi I have a few more pair of earrings to show on my jewelry plate today. I made them friday after I already posted. They are made of pearls, crystals, seed beads, & firepolished beads. If I get time next week I will do a few braclets. Yesterday I went to the cities for my bead group's annual demo & do day. For $10.00 you get 4) 50 minute classes to learn more jewelry techniques. It is such a fun day. We have a pot luch lunch & evryone has lots of laughs & some serious beading. Today I am going to put the green silk on a necklace that I made earlier with green ceramic beads , glue the knots on the pink leather, & do a couple more small things that need finishing. Next week I'll be posting my display pieces as I put them together for the show. I am getting very excited as the show date gets closer. It is next saturday. I am hoping my jewelry will sell well.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Earrings are on my jewelry plate again. Todays earrings are aqua, black & white, ivory colored, & purple. The black & white pair use snow quartz, mother of pearl, & sardonyx. Yes I kn ow that the purple pair has no earwires, I ran out of gold earwires but that will be corrected soon. In the pair with a fluted oval at the top is carved bone. There is a 5mm tan pearl in the middle & a chocolate pearl dropon the bottom. Hope you like them.This pic doesn't do justice to the beauty of these earrings. It;s cloudy & raining so the pics aren't the best. The aqua pair on the left has silver stardust beads between the aqua beads & an aquaAB rondelle at the bottom, but you can't tell that from the pic. I am ordering a new photography book today.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Earrings are the jewelry on my plate today. I was digging for some rose colored 6mm pearls that I had so I pulled a bunch of pink beads out in the search. Since it was laying on my bead table I made several pair of pink earrings. As I searched for beads to go with the pink I came up with several other ideas & we have some black & purple too. The lilac flowers are lucite. Aren't they delicate looking? I will make more earrings today & show them to you tomorrow. I need to expand my color selection of earrings. I plan on making a few bracelets too. Bracelets are harder for me because they need to be sized so much closer than a necklace or earrings. I do want to have a few bracelets though. Next week I need to do my display, tags, & other stuff that I need to get ready for the show on the 21st. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I didn't make jewelry yesterday. I went to the cities & saw my sister, Mom, & a cousin. It was good having a day off. I did make 2 pair of pink earrings this morning so I'll show them to you. The pair with chain is similar to a pair I made during the January earring a day challenge. but I added the pearls which I think helped & they are a different color. Enjoy. I'm headed back to make more earrings in preparation for my upcoming show.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

My jewelry today is earrings. I think earrings will be a good seller at the craft show. In this economy something less expensive sells better so I am going to work on earrings now. These are still laying on my work table & I thought you might like to see them.Can you tell I'm partial to blue? LOL

Monday, April 9, 2012

Morning Greetings, The jewelry I have to show you today is earrings. If you have been following my blog you know that I made a rainbow necklace back in March. When I made it I only made 1 pair of white earrings to go with it. I decided that the person who buys it might like one of the other colors better so yesterday I made earrings for all the other colors. Now they can choose whatever they like. Here's a pic of them all.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter everyone. I have 3 jewelry pieces to show today. The first necklace is hot pink. The focal came as a single earring so I put it on a headpin & added black saucers,a fuchsia 6mm bicone, a fuchsia lined seed beads, & a dyed pink crazy lace agate. The strands use the same beads plus 4mm fuchsia bicones, hot pink metallic seeds, & black glass ovals. A silver lobster clasp is used to close it.

The second necklace is made with aqua rounds that have lilac colored flowers & green leaves on them. Between the aqua beads I used matte aqua seed beads & a plain aqua round. Then I used 2 lilac seeds, a lilac 4mm bicone, & 2 more lilac seeds. The closure is a gold plated toggle. I also made a bracelet to go with the necklace. The bracelet can be added to the necklace to make it longer like in the second pic.

The third necklace is made of lime green ceramic diamonds. I used emrald green glass rounds, olive green pearls, & transparent orange size 6 seed beads. I tried several colors like black, tan, yellow, white & even hot pink with it but the orange made the whole think stand out so here it is. I am reading a book called "The Beaders Color Palette' by Margie Deeb. It has helped me make better color choices. I like this color combination & I hope you do too.

Friday, April 6, 2012

I have 3 handmade pieces of jewelry to show you today. The first necklace has an enameled oval pendant made by Sara of C-Koop Beads. Isn't it fabulous? I made a spiral on non-tarnish silver wire for the pendant to hang on. I topped it with a dark rose crystal rondelle & a dark capri 8mm bicone to make a focal. I used dyed blue agate rounds, pink& clear swirled coin beads, matte clear AB discs, & rose 6mm bicones to mirror the colors in the pendant. The necklace has a lobster clasp & jump ring closure.

Next I decided to use some of the beads that came in my treasure box . Since Pantones color of the year is tangarine tango I started with the vintage 12mm (very close to 1/2") orange acrilic beads(I think that they are lucite but they weren't marked so I'm just calling them acrilic.) I capped them with bright orange glass flowers. I also used small white glass rounds. The accent beads are montana fire polished drops. I kept it simple to let the beads shine. The closure is a gold toggle clasp.

The third necklace also is made with beads from my treasure box. (if you missed it see yesterdays post). This time I used purple acrilic pearls in sets of three. Between the sets I put a 12mm white faceted glass round also from the treasure box of vintage stuff. I used dark purpleAB faceted rondelles too. The center of the strand has 2 darker purple glass pearls. On a headpin I put one of the rondelles, one of the vintage purple pearls, a big hole white ceramic bead with purple flowers on it (I found a tube bead that just fit inside the big hole to make the ceramic bead stable instead of floppy.) , one of the vintage white beads, & another rondelle complete the focal. A silver lobster claw clasp & a jump ring are the closure.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

A Real Treasure Chest!!! Yesterday in the mail I got my first Bead Hoard Curiosities Club package. In case you don't know about it Suzanne at A Grain Of Sand bought 4 semi-trailers of vintage beads, some of them are from the 20's & 30's. For $39.95 you can get a mixed package. How fun is that? Here's a pic of what I got. Isn't it great. Here's a link to the site so you can go look too http://www.agrainofsand.com/
They are a great bead supply source for Unique Vintage and Contemporary Beads and Findings.

Now for what I made yesterday. The first necklace has a geometric focal that started life as an earring. It came as a single in a mixed box that I bought. I used black 6mm bicones, charcoal grey metalic rounds, Dark amber size 8 seed beads, Purple glass rounds, & silver leaves. There is one small red bicone above the focal to draw your eye there.

Necklace #2 is made with Ruby glass bicones, rondelles, & drops. I used black 6mm bicones & seeds & gold stardust 4mm rounds & seeds. This piece of jewelry closes with a gold toggle clasp. I am getting anxious for the craft show which gets closer each day.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Wouldn't Mom love this? I'm thinking ahead to Mothers Day. Most women like flowers so I made this necklace with pink flower sliders(sliders are bead components that have 2 holes & can slide along the wires.) I spaced them out with pink bicones in size 4mm & 6mm, transparent squared nuggets, & gold lined pink seed beads. The bottom strand is longer so it scallops. Everything is fastened to a 2 to 1, & gold chain. A flowered toggle closes this piece of jewelry. The second piece is pink & black. I used black rounds & rondelles, Pink verigated twists, & 18k gold heshi beads. A gold toggle closes this necklace. I think it came out very good, don't you?

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Good afternoon, The first necklace I made yesterday. I started with the aqua & honey ceramic rounds & made links on gold craft wire with them & small black rounds. I found 3 dark topaz beads (1 coin & 2 tubes) in my stash. I used black bicones to flank them. Then I put the links together with brass chain. The next strand moving inward has links made of bronze metalic tubes flanked with 5mm black crystal saucers. I also made 3 links with \aqua teardrops flanked by dark topaz bicones. This strand is also joined by brass chain. The center strand is mixed seed beads. They are all fastened to a gold 3 to 1. A brass toggle clasp closes the necklace. Since long necklaces are hard to show the detail & get the whole necklace in the pic I took 2 pics. One shows the whole necklace & one shows the detail. The second necklace I made this morning. I realized that I had not made a long pink necklace so here it is. A 5 strand. 3strands are chain & 2 are mixed seed beads. The inner-most strand is long & short chain that I wove pink leather through the long links. The next strand is seed beads. Then comes a different chain followed by another seed bead strand. The outer strand is curb chain. I attached 3 white cloisonne beads with pink flowers on them to the center section of the chain. Between the cloisonne beads there are 2 pink faceted briolettes. All of the strands are attached to a silver heart shaped 5 to 1. I used a silver toggle to close the necklace. I took 2 pics of this one also.

Monday, April 2, 2012

It's Monday morning & I'm looking forward to another week of beading. The necklace I'm showing today is such a beautiful blue. When I bought these beads I saw them paired with gray but, they looked so much brighter with the blue. The stone beads in the inner & outer strands are Angelite. The 3 beads sets are seperated by sapphire blue firepolished beads & small white pearls. The inner strand is 6mm & the outer strand is 8mm. The middle strand is small blue glass beads in 5 bead sets. The seperation is made with dark blue gray pearls. The center focal is made with a beautiful blue donut. Inside I put 2 larger button pearls & a sapphire pirepolished. Above & below the donut are larger Sapphire rondelles & the bottom has a matte transparent drop. I hope you like this as much as I do.

About Me

HI, My name is Becky. Beads began calling my name back in 2000. They bring me joy. When I have something else to do I can't wait to get it done so that I can get back to beading. When I look at beads I see what they can become. I want to share this joy with others. My greatest wish is that whoever is wearing one of my designs can feel some of the joy I feel in creating my jewelry. I am a member of the Upper Midwest Bead Society.